Michael Oliver of Baltimore just saw his money woes take flight, thanks to the timely arrival of a winning Maryland Lottery Orioles scratch-off.

He’s had a tough couple of months, the 40-year-old man told Lottery officials as he claimed the $60,000 top prize on the instant ticket. Bills began piling up and his job, which involves hauling cargo, depends on a truck that keeps needing repair.

All winter long, he set aside a few bucks each week to buy instant tickets to enjoy scratching off with his girlfriend. One day in April, Michael found his Lottery luck when he least expected it.

“I was returning from a hauling job when I stopped in at a gas station for a few tickets,” Michael said. “I scratched the Orioles ticket there in the store and had to look at it a few times before I believed what I was seeing.”

He immediately called his girlfriend with the news. “She knows what I’ve been dealing with,” he said. “She was pretty excited.”

Taking care of the bills and getting his truck into shape top Michael’s list of things to do with his $60,000 win. “When those are taken care of, I believe we’ll take a vacation.”

Michael’s run of hard times ended at the BP gas station, 2202 North Rolling Road in Woodlawn. His top prize win is the second for the Orioles scratch-off. The $5 ticket still has four $60,000 top-prize winners in the stores.

Michael Chestnut is a man of routines. A truck driver, he often finds himself carrying the same cargos along the same routes, delivering them to the same destinations. A departure from the usual worked out very well for him yesterday, though.

Part of Mr. Chestnut’s routine is the Maryland Lottery – instant tickets, to be precise. He plays most days, he told officials, buying tickets from stores along his route. “I stopped in to cash in a winner with plans to get the same ticket again because I’d been lucky with it,” he reported. “But I saw this one (Hot Cash Casino), a game I hadn’t seen before. So I got it instead.” Michael returned home and was pleased to see, upon scratching his ticket, a club symbol which multiplies the prize by ten. He hadn’t, though, scratched the corresponding dollar amount. “I always scratch the dollar part last,” he said. When he saw the $100,000 prize he was floored. “I have got to be reading this wrong,” he said, over and over.

Michael’s lucky store is the 7-11 at 620 Reisterstown Road in Baltimore. He has no immediate plans for his winnings.

Truck driver, Michael Chestnut, is on the road to riches
with $100,000 Hot Cash Casino win.

A trip to the butcher produced more than her grocery order for a Woodlawn woman. While visiting Hollins Market, the 43-year-old daycare provider took a little detour and stopped into the American Convenience Store, where she bought three Black Jack scratch-offs.

She began playing her purchases while still at the store, but it wasn’t until she was at her niece’s home that she finished scratching her tickets. It was then that she revealed her win, although still a bit gradually. “I thought that I’d won $10,000,” said the winner. Her niece, who accompanied the Black Jack fan to Lottery Headquarters, said that she looked at the ticket and commented, “It’s more than that.” It was five times more, making it one of the $50,000 top prize winning tickets. “I started jumping up and down, like it was my win,” said the niece.

This is the largest win to date for the avid Lottery player, who enjoys Pick 3, Pick 4 and jackpot games in addition to scratch-off play. “My biggest win before this was $200 on Pick 4 this past summer,” said the winner. Although she hasn’t shared the good news with anyone besides her niece who was present as the time of the win, the single-mother-of-one, intends to share her winnings with several others.

Referring to the niece who was with her she said, “I think I’m going to buy her a little car. I’m also going to help my other nieces for Christmas,” said the generous aunt.
The winning ticket was purchased at American Convenience Store, located at 26 S. Arlington Ave. in Baltimore.

If you are sitting at work and the computers go down, what do you do? You could twiddle your thumbs, look through a magazine, phone a friend or do what Wendy Weber did. She cleaned out her purse and came across some Mega Millions tickets from the week before, and one of them turned out to be a big winner.

Wendy could not access the Lottery’s website at work, so she had to depend on her co-worker’s cell phone to get the winning numbers. “He called out some numbers, so I knew I won something,” she said. “But, when he said I had all five numbers, I was so excited.” And, she had every right to be. By matching all five numbers except for the Mega Ball, the 48-year-old had just won a $250,000 second-tier prize. The big winner called her husband and left work on her lunch break to cash the winning ticket.

The Social Security Agency employee said she has no clue what to do with the winnings. “I am from a big family, so I’ll probably have a huge gathering,” she smiled. Wendy added that she and her husband may take a trip and she’ll put some of it away. The winning ticket was purchased at Genes Snack Bar, located inside the Social Security Complex in Woodlawn.

Earl Garner is a frequent Lottery player, typically playing a couple scratch-offs at a time. But this past Saturday when he strayed from his normal routine, the result was a $50,000 prize.

The 56-year-old started off by buying his usual one or two tickets. After winning his money back and realizing he was at the beginning of the roll of Trump Card tickets, he decided to keep reinvesting his money until he found a big winner. “Something just told me to stay with it,” Earl said. About 15 tickets later, his intuition proved correct when he scratched a $50,000 top prize winner.

The Frederick County school teacher remained cool and collected despite the magnitude of his windfall. He called his wife, whom he said was very excited at the news. The couple has one son, who is currently serving in the US Air Force.

Earl plans to use his winnings to pay some bills. He currently has no other plans for the money, but says he might find some small way to spoil himself. The winning ticket was sold at the Woodlawn Sunoco located at 6725 Dogwood Rd.